Editorials on China becoming the World scientific superpower, along with a call for continued collaboration under security risk assessment, the news that all incoming Nature publications will come accompanied by the full editorial process (reviews and authors’ responses), which sounds most sensible to me, another call for novel research indicators to be used eg in the REF but… being co-funded by Elsevier is not especially promising!—along with a Nature investigation on paper mills—, and another personal take calling for new FAA models on air controller loads, which are too light according to the author!, who thinks controllers can handle several flights concurrently.
News on the incoming Vera Rubin Observatory telescope in Chile—if not close to the Atacama peaks I climbed during ISBA 2004—and its unique technology (with a camera the size of a car!). As well as a highlight on African space agencies (where I discovered that Egypt is the most active). Plus, a rather vague report on ether0 as a “stepping stone towards a reasoning model“, once again playing with words and double meaning on what’s reason(ing). Further entries (alas!) onH ow Trump 2.0 is reshaping science with the impact of barring entry to 19 countries’ nationals and China multiplying calls to attract researchers from abroad and keep students in the country. Including unusually large salaries and benefits. (Pangolins and axolotls make an appearance in both this issue and the next, how unlikely is this?! With the conflicting items of information that the former are primarily hunted for their scales or for their taste.)
The most frightening section of the 19 June issue is however on the threat of a collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which would bring a new Ice Age to Western Europe and dramatic changes in the weather worldwide. Along with several research articles on climate change and its impacts.
Xi'an's Og 